


i count to five (and life passes by)

by MarkedMage



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, I was literally crying while writing this, IDK how I wrote something less than 3k words, Pain, Please Don't Kill Me, The Last Agni Kai (Avatar), make zutarians cry under 500 words, zutara angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26416345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarkedMage/pseuds/MarkedMage
Summary: Five heartbeats.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 51
Kudos: 182
Collections: Zutara Angst Challenge





	i count to five (and life passes by)

**Author's Note:**

> don't ask me how i wrote this under 3k words I DON't KNOW EITHER FAM.
> 
> wrote this for a lil zutara angst challenge on discord. IDK where my head was at or what i was doing so please don't blame me for this mess.

Five heartbeats, she counts. 

_One._

He groans, heart sputtering beneath her fingertips, and her tears pool into a little puddle over the one on his heart, as if desperately trying to help fix his ruined chest. He looks at her, eyes wild and desperate and crazed, but also so warm and happy, and his hand comes up to cup her cheek.

_Please live,_ she thinks, even as she touches his skin and cries. Because she knows, even without trying, that this wound, this grievous wound, is too much. A wound that spirits can only heal, and _spirits please, save him_. Save the boy who saved her.

_Two._

"Don't you dare die on me, Zuko," she seethes. "You can't."

_I can't lose you. Not again._ _Not like last time._

He blinks. "You're okay," he whispers, and his heart is faint, like butterflies whisked away in a rainstorm. She grits her teeth, pours all her love and anger and rage into healing him, because she _just got him and spirits she will not lose him_. Not to this. 

_Three._

He coughs, and blood pours from his mouth. "I'm sorry," he whispers, and she can see the life fading from his eyes. "Can you forgive me?"

It's Ba Sing Se all over again, except this time it isn't the Avatar she holds, dying, in her hands. This time, it's a boy of fire, a boy who willingly took death to the heart for her, a boy she would gladly freeze the world in ice for. 

She can feel his life failing, his spirit like a flickering candle in the wind, holding on desperately to life even as it fades. She cries, tears pouring down, and his thumb caresses her cheek, brushing them away. They fall onto his cheeks, glimmering in the firelight, and his hand flops down.

_Diamonds,_ she thinks. Fire and ice? It creates diamonds, and they dance across the prince's skin like starlight.

"Please," she whispers, bends down, removes her hands from his ruined skin to cup his cheek, the scarred skin like lava to the touch. "Don't leave me. _Please, Zuko._ "

He smiles, blood glinting on his lips like rubies, eyes shining like the sun. "No one has ever touched it before," he says, and she flinches. His hand moves, cupping hers over his calloused skin, and his grin in the firelight is almost, serene. "I'm happy it was you."

_Four_.

"Please," she whispers. "You can't go. I just found you. I wanted the rest of our lives-"

She chokes off at the end, and he shakes his head, eyes dimming. "I'll be with you," he says. "Always."

"Zuko-"

"I think I loved you," he whispers, and Katara feels his blood slowing, his pulse fading with each breath he takes. "I know I did. So thank you, Katara."

_Five._

(And she can't help but wonder what hurts more; loving someone and letting them go, or holding on to something that didn't even have a chance to bloom.)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [i count to five (and life passes by)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26472268) by [RideBoldlyRide](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RideBoldlyRide/pseuds/RideBoldlyRide)




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